Ryan Rhodes, Bachmann’s outreach director to Iowa tea parties, said her attack “set the premise” for the debate.

“She was willing to go out there and define the issue of the debate,” he said.

Iowa campaign manager Eric Woolson suggested Bachmann’s breakout on Saturday could be one more turning point in an Iowa caucuses race defined by twists and turns.

“I think we’re poised to make that move back up again for several reasons,” Woolson said, citing increased scrutiny on Gingrich, the campaign’s organizational efforts and any momentum gained from the debate.

Bachmann, a Minnesota congresswoman, swept through the modest, too-busy-to-be-tidy office this evening flanked by her campaign team and husband Marcus Bachmann, hugging everyone who came within grasping distance.

“I just want to say, ‘God bless you all, we’re going to have a great merry Christmas, we’re gonna work really hard and then we’re going to celebrate and dance til dawn on Jan. 4 — after a successful Jan. 3’!” Bachmann said.

Advance man Craig Handzlik summed up the feelings here succinctly, in a cell-phone call overheard by this reporter: “Everyone is really stoked.”